Yeeha. I've got three outgoing packages, and three incoming packages. Once
they are all recieved, I will have all but two of the games I have ever wanted for systems not currently...
well, current. And I STILL don't have a team of plucky adventurers trying to stop me. So who's slacking
off?

Hey Googleshng,
I'm a long time reader, first time writer.
1) In response to all of the letters about Hoshigami, I hear that it is a
hard game, but is it good? It seems that since about the time Saiyuki came
out every gaming website has become very lax about posting reviews for the
PS1.

Googleshng:
Hoshigami is quite good, particularly if you LIKE hard. Anyway, the reason RPGamer doesn't have a review
up yet is that A- the review copy got stuck in the mail for about a month, B- Atlus sent said copy out
BEFORE the difficulty of a few really nasty fights was lowered for the US release, and C- RPGamer policy
says nobody can review a game before they've finished it. And what else has come out for the PSX since
Saiyuki? All I can think of is DW7, which we got a review of up launch day.

2) I have a small list of games that I missed the first time they came out.
In decending order, which of these games do you like the best to worst:
Front Mission 3, Saiyuki, Persona 2, Tales of Destiny 1 (I just played
through 2), Thousand Arms, Vagrant Story, Threads of Fate, and Valkyrie
Profile.

Googleshng:
I never played a few of those, but I had my reasons, so here we go. Saiyuki, Front Mission 3, Valkyrie
Profile, Vagrant Story, Threads of Fate, Tales of Destiny, Thousand Arms, Persona 2.

3) I've heard that Square and Konami are on poor relations. Is this true?
I would KILL for an FF game with a Dance Dance Revolution mini game.

Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.
OBKenobi1@aol.com

Googleshng:
I never heard that...

A not so short multiparter

Hey Goog,

It's nice to see that there really are other people in Connecticut. I hope you like Dragon Force. I enjoyed it until my Saturn bit the dust.

Now for the questions. Unlike certain other writers, I AM one to throw gas on the fire, or a match on the kerosene if need be, so I'll start with a Hoshigami question.

When it comes to RPGs, a decent challenge seems nearly impossible to find, especially with new games. After getting an hour or so into Breath of Fire IV, I started over, and proceeded to run from EVERY random battle in the entire game. And even the last boss was just a long battle, but not too difficult. That example may be a bit extreme, but it's not that far off. Does Hoshigami present a good challenge? It's difficult to tell from what I've heard whether there's a real challenge, or if it's just keeping yourself at a good level.

Googleshng:
Hoshigami's difficulty CAN be watered down a bit if you sit around character building forever, like just
about any other RPG, but unless you REALLY go overboard, it's always going to pose a very formidable challenge
to you.

Next, I was saddened by the loss of the ATB system in FF10. The new battle system was good(especially with those annoying camera angles), but I hope that we'll see ATB again sometime. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like that's gonna happen. Do you think there's much chance?

Googleshng:
As long as there are people who don't like putting in every character's actions at once, there will be
a place in the world for ATB.

And finally, I personally haven't liked the idea of voice acting in RPGs. But it seems to have added a lot to the games which have used it recently, despite getting annoying at times. You've probably been asked this before, but what do you think of voice acting in RPGs?

Googleshng:
Voice acting is just fine, as long as it's good, and/or there's outtakes at the end. It's RARELY good
though.

Maybe just one more...I hate to see party sizes shrink. Especially when few games have an excuse for why you don't just all go for it(that was one of my favorite things about Bahamut Lagoon). Any thoughts on why 3 seems to be the new magic number?

Googleshng:
FF7 gives you 3, possibly as an attempt at turning up the difficulty, which gets pretty sad, especially
later. Everyone else has largely been copying FF7, except for games which only have 3 characters period,
like, say, Wild ARMs. I don't have a problem with THAT sort of setup though. What bugs me is how low party
sizes are in TRPGs lately. Especially FM3. 4 characters in a TRPG just isn't right.

OK, this is the last one, really. With all the questions of a third Chrono game, I have to ask, has ANYONE heard of Radical Dreamers? It's not even on RPGamer.

-Vinny

Googleshng:
Radical Dreamers A- is not an RPG last I checked, and B- has never physically existed. Plus it was pretty
much remade into Chrono Cross. Never making it out of Japan doesn't help much either.

11

Hey, I looked at the new Final Fantasy XI trailer, and it got me thinking...
What kind of stuff will you need to play FFXI online?
Is there some special ISP that you need? And what extra stuff do
you have to buy, and when will the stuff come out?
I really need to know, so I can start saving up money!

Thanks,

-Thor, The Thunder God

Googleshng:
Well, you'd need an ISP, an account with Square (monthly fee there), and, if you aren't just waiting for
a PC or other such port, you'd also need a PS2, a PS2 modem, and a keyboard, which would have to be supported
for such a game to work. That's quite a bit to pay for one game if you ask me. Especially with all the
other things it could be going to.

A tad off topic...

There were a lot of people talking about the Hitchhiker's Guide game a while
back. I'm not sure if anyone has posted this yet, but there is a Javascript
version at http://www.douglasadams.com/creations/infocom.html

BL Alien

Googleshng:
Not RPG related, but it's nice to know where to find such a thing. I wish more authors made text adventures
out of their books... or vice-versa in the case of Starship Titanic (yeah yeah, simultanious, I know).

Look out! Venting!

Hey Googleshng,

I've just gotta ask. The idea that RPGamer is running an "RPG of the year" and such is a great idea, and the way it's being done seems tremendous, but I wonder, why is Final Fantasy Chronicles being included?

FFC, first off, is not a game. It's an anthology of two games. One remains unCHANGED, simply added to, the other gets a rewrite, a little blip added on the side, and a few things which were simply LEFT out from the Japanese original.

I guess my question is a little broader than I would like to pretend- why do people even consider it a GAME? I think the RPG community has established that it's crude attempt at making extra cash on Square's part, but people still add that title to the collection: "Game." You know why? I don't.

-Jas

Googleshng:
There's many a hole in your logic here. First off, you made the statement: "One remains unCHANGED, simply added to,"
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but addition is a form of change. You're also griping about FFC making a
list of RPG releases this year, because it's just a rereleasal with little changed. However, you have no
objection to Breath of Fire being on there, which is a rerelease with NOTHING changed. Nor any of the
other MANY rereleases this year, or last. I don't think anyone considers FFC a game though. They consider
it a bundling of 2 games.

O_o

Dearest Goog, (?),
I have a question for you: After loooking over a wide variety of games on Amazon and in K-Mart, I happened to notice something. There are a lot of (how to say), Nintendo ...converts? (Games that were orginally only on Nintendo, and now share the glory with Playstation). Is there a reason why Legend of Zelda (any of the titles), has never been on Playstation? Will it ever be? (Oh, I'd love it if it would).
Now that I'm basking in the joyous sunshine of owning a PS2 (and Final Fantasy X WHOO YEAH!), I'm really curious if Zelda will ever make it to that kind of system.
Another question: was it rumored somewhere that a Legend of Zelda movie was going to be made? I don't believe it, myself, but I thought I heard it somewhere.
Personally, I think they'd ruin it, by putting Leonardo Di'Caprio as Link or something so disgusting as that.
Well, I've said my piece!
Onto figure out WHY a star blitzball player, suddenly can swing a sword like a pro!
Eka

Googleshng:
Uh, there's a VERY good reason you will never see a Playstation Zelda game. Zelda is made by NINTENDO.
Console making companies don't release their own games on rival systems. So, you will NEVER see a Zelda
game on a non-Nintendo system. The same goes for Mario, Metroid, Star Fox, or any of the other series
made by them.

As for a Zelda movie, I've never heard of such a rumor.

Quickies

hey...
i was just wondering...is there any worthwhile reason to do the whole chocobo thing in FFX? It really doesnt seem like it...

There's the satisfaction of playing with big yellow birds...

...I got up to the "Defeat Alveen" mission, and lost
my memory card! Hooray!...

Kill me.
-Zitanix

Google's helpful hint of the day: Save every game you're playing at the moment on two memory cards to
avoid tragedy!

where are the two kids that can't be seen i already found the one in the stairs wheres the other one? e-mail me at SkullFlameDragon@aol.com

Every single day I get a letter like this, and every single day I point out that you need to name the
game to get an answer from me. When will people learn?

So Shenmue 2 is actually available in the States?

Yes. Didn't you catch that news story on how EB had it in stock? MAJOR improvement over the original
by the way. Especially in the pacing department.

Such was the column. Plump with goodness. Anyway, tomorrow, Cyr- er, wait. Tomorrow's Thursday. CURSE
YOU MONDAY COLUMN! YOU HAVE UPSET THE NATURAL ORDER OF THINGS! So, tomorrow will be a regular column,
and FRIDAY there will be a guest host. Now off I go to pack stuff up for people.

Googleshng "Follow me. I have business there anyway." @rpgamer.com
Coolest thing about Shenmue 2: You can get a part-time job taking care of someone's store. People will
wander up to YOU asking for directions to places YOU'VE never been!